Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman

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The oldest story in Binocular Vision, Edith Pearlman’s first collection
of short stories to be published in the UK, was written more than 35 years
ago. A girl, Nancy, returns home to Maine after university. Mistaking
newfound wisdom for maturity, she offers her heart to a much older man, only
to be snubbed. Nancy is delighted: “She soared. She felt detached, exalted.
To be defeated, she realised, is also to be disburdened. One travels the
lighter.”

It’s this kind of flighty and weighty defiance that distinguishes Pearlman’s
many characters, and characterises her own life as a writer. At 76, it